A day by the sea

I awoke to gorgeous sunshine this morning and watched Gator Boys on the TV while drinking my first coffee of the day. I love this show as it's set in Florida and we were very close to where they have their rescue centre, near Miami when we visited last year. I did want to go and visit but we just ran out of time.

Keith came back from taking Mikey to Gibraltar Barracks for his rugby weekend and casually mentioned how lovely it would be to go to the coast...well, I don't need a lot of persuading so I went to talk to Sophie to see if she was agreeable to going with us (if Mike had been at home, he definitely wouldn't have wanted to go!).

I don't think my daughter was that keen but in the face of my enthusiasm she had no choice! We all quickly showered and set off for the North Norfolk coast at 11am heading first for Huntingdon and then taking a road over the Fens towards Kings Lynn.

As the road is just a single lane carriageway for the most part, it was hard going, especially as you can guarantee on getting something slow in front. In my case it was a dumper truck that I managed to overtake before we hit a few miles of dual carriageway around Kings Lynn!

Once past Kings Lynn we headed for the coastal road and passed Sandringham and then Hunstanton. The scenery changed and we came across lines of wind-bent firs and gorse bushes by the side of the road.

By now we were all hungry and we turned off the road to Brancaster Beach where I hoped there'd be a little cafe selling coffee and sandwiches, similar to Winterton-on-Sea. We found a large car park and headed off to what looked like a pub or hotel only to discover it was a private golf club!

The beach here is undoubtedly gorgeous with a huge expanse of golden sand backed by dunes. The tide was a long way out and several people were out walking with dogs who were thrilled at all the space they had to run. However, there was nowhere to have something to eat so we had to return to the car and drive on. It was also extremely windy and we were literally eating sand at one point as it blew across the beach.

We drove back to the main road and pressed on towards Wells-next-the-Sea. On the way we passed a couple of pubs but we were really on the lookout for a cafe and we found one called The Deepdale Cafe in the village of Burnham Deepdale which fitted the bill perfectly.

Sophie ordered a chicken burger with chips while Keith and I opted for sandwiches. The food was delicious and I've never seen such huge sarnies in my life! I had sausage and red onion and I didn't think I would eat again that day after finishing!

Suitably replete, we got back into the car and headed off to Wells-next-the-Sea. This coastal road is very pretty, dotted with houses studded with the local flinty stone and quaint country pubs. We passed Holkham Nature Reserve and arrived at Wells with crowds of other people. All the car parks were either full or exorbitantly priced (we only wanted to park for another hour or two) so we reluctantly gave up on the town and headed back to Holkham where we knew there was another car park.

Here, the cars were parked either side of a narrow road leading down to the Nature reserve and the beach. We followed a boardwalk through the trees and out to the edge of the beach.

Again, there were lots of people but the beach was so huge it never felt crowded. We saw lots of shells and walked right across the expanse of sand following a tidal channel that, in places, looked quite deep.

It was still extremely windy but warm - at one point the temperature was 17c! Sophie and I collected some little shells and we decided to head back to the car as we weren't really wearing the right footwear for the beach (some of the sand was more mud than sand) and the wind was very strong, sending grit into our eyes. However, if I chose to come and stay in the area I'd love to walk along the Norfolk coast path and from this beach you can walk to Wells easily.

It was a lovely spot and there was an old-fashioned van selling hot coffee and cakes. I bet whoever owned it was doing a roaring trade!

Back in the car we drove back to Wells-next-the-Sea and then headed inland where we saw a sign for a Real Ale shop! We just had to go and see and I ended up treating Keith to two bottles of local beer, one at 7% and one at 8%. Let's see how they compare to his McEwan's Champion!

Keith directed me on a different route back to Kings Lynn and the low-lying sun made driving difficult. At one large roundabout we missed our turn and ended up doing an unplanned trip around Kings Lynn. I was astonished to see a sign for the docks as I didn't realise we were so close to the sea.

Back on the right road, we made good time except for one car who held me up for a little while. I managed to overtake the car and we were soon speeding back to Huntingdon, admiring the sunset and the numerous wind turbines that are so common in this part of the country.

Photo courtesy of Sophie from the back seat!

 From Huntingdon it was an easy road back home and after a quick visit home to feed the cats we were back out to the pub after ordering a Chinese takeaway for dinner. The Royal Oak was very busy with a lot of people arriving to eat and we sat for an hour at the bar enjoying a drink.

Back home, despite our late lunch, we enjoyed our dinner and then it was time to relax in front of the box and enjoy the last episode of Songs of the South!